It’s time to put your migration plan into motion. Angular applications written in older versions need an upgrade. Otherwise, you run the risk of allowing your apps to fall behind, run slower or miss out on exciting features as newer versions are released. But before you make any moves, you’ll need to put some Angular myths to rest. 

Pluralsight author and Angular expert, Joe Eames, shared his plan for successful migration in a recent webinar, which you can watch on demand. Here are the top five myths (according to Joe) about migrating from old to new versions of this popular JavaScript framework:

MYTH: You can’t take a hybrid approach to migration (where a portion of your app runs on an old version as you gradually migrate).  

Running apps side-by-side as you migrate is a smart move (and safe approach). You don’t have to do everything all at once, and you can mitigate risks in the process. 

MYTH: It’s impossible to choose the “right” version, or even the right platform, for apps because Angular is changing too fast.

In this day and age, Joe adamantly rejects the concept of selecting a “winner.” At the time when AngularJS was released, it clearly felt like the right move. With technologies like React, Vue and others, there are certainly options that share the same space to choose. Every indication (right now) is no single framework will outshine the competition and take over. 

MYTH: Angular releases new versions so fast that you should just wait to upgrade during the next version.

Most developers will experience fairly seamless upgrades if they don’t wait. Even on large-scale projects, it should only take a few hours or days to migrate. Waiting to upgrade and allowing a delay will cause more problems for everyone, as Angular adds more and more features each time. When in doubt, staying up to date is the way to go.

MYTH: Older Angular versions will not lose support. 

Angular has announced they will release version 1.7 and offer support for the next three years only. However, once “official” support ends, the Angular team plans to turn support over to the community.

MYTH: You don’t need to learn TypeScript to master Angular.

Learning TypeScript “shouldn’t be too big of a deal” according to Joe. What you’ll learn can greatly benefit you in the long run as most technologies require skill adjacencies, and you don’t necessarily need to become an expert. 

Your apps deserve this. Ready to make the move? We’ve got you (and so does the Angular community). Tune into Joe’s webinar and get his migration strategy plan in full, dive into this course on migration, or check out our Angular path.

Or for more general information on working with Angular, check out post about the pros and cons of Angular.